Padres notes: Adams sets HBP mark; Cronenworth’s swelling down

Austin Adams talks with catcher Austin Nola

Sept. 12, 2021 7:19 PM PT

LOS ANGELES —

Hitters don’t react much, if at all, when they are hit by one of Austin Adams’ pitches.

Even as the boos rain down with increasing fervor while the hit batters pile up, as they did Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the hitters simply drop their bats and remove whatever protective apparatus they are wearing. They hardly glance toward the mound before making their way to first base.

“It’s a slider, it’s not meant to hit anybody,” catcher Austin Nola said Sunday. “It’s just one of those sliders that has so much spin on it that … sometimes it’s going to back up and hit guys.”

Adams hit his 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd batters of the season in the eighth inning of the Padres’ 8-0 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday. The 22^nd set an Expansion Era record (since 1961) for a single season. The 23^rd tied the Live Ball Era record (since 1920) set by Howard Ehmke in 1922.

Ehmke threw 279 2/3 innings that season.

Adams has thrown 48 2/3 innings.

Adam’s slider, which he throws almost 90 percent of the time, has ended all but five of his 70 strikeouts. It has also been the culprit in all 23 hit batters.

The mechanics involved in his delivery are difficult to repeat. When those mechanics are out of whack, they often stay that way through an outing.

“It’s either hot or cold and really nothing in between,” manager Jayce Tingler said.

Adams actually has often escaped trouble with the same pitch that betrayed him.

In 38 games (30 2/3 innings) from April 18 to July 20, Adams hit 11 batters in 11 different games. Yet he allowed a total of five runs (one earned) and allowed just three of the 10 batters he inherited to score.

But he has increasingly been unable to escape the crises he creates, allowing 13 runs (all earned) in his past 19 games (15 innings).

He has hit six of the 23 batters he has faced over his past five outings. That stretch began with two games in which he retired just one of the nine batters he faced. In the two appearances leading up to Sunday, he threw perfect innings.

“When he gets his slider out front, I mean, it’s one of the best pitches in the game,” Nola said. “It’s elite. It’s just one of those (things), he throws so many of them, sometimes they’re just going to not be as good that day.”

Coming along

The Padres can hardly afford to put infielder Jake Cronenworth on the injured list.

And the way his finger fracture is progressing and where the fracture is (at the tip of his left ring finger), it appears they can avoid doing so.

Cronenworth, whose .814 OPS is third highest on the team, is wearing tiny compression sleeves on the ring and middle fingers of his left hand. He said he was hit on the nail of his ring finger, and the pitch from Julio Urias on Friday caught his middle finger as well.

Speaking before Sunday’s game, Cronenworth said the swelling had gone down significantly in the previous 24 hours. Once the swelling decreases further, his playing will be a matter of pain tolerance.

“I don’t grip the bat that tight anyways,” Cronenworth said. “As long as I can handle the pain. Its only right on the end, its more on the inside.”

Plus, Cronenworth is a former hockey player. This is his fifth finger fracture. The others happened during hockey season, and he kept playing.

After the game, Tingler said any predictions about Cronenworth’s return would be “speculation.” But he did allow this: “I will say he has shown some minor improvements as with the inflammation and the range of motion so there have been some good signs there.”

Notable

The Padres won seven of the first 10 games they played against the Dodgers this season but have dropped six straight since and are in danger of losing the season series against L.A. for the 11^th straight year.